“My lady, please don’t. The Count is still in an unstable state. Please calm yourself for a moment—”

“Unstable? So I’m supposed to just endure hearing something like that?!”

Unable to contain her fury, Richel shouted at the top of her lungs.

The butler was desperately trying to calm her down while holding her back when Edwin shoved the butler aside and spoke.

“If you want to hit me, then go ahead. I don’t mind. If it helps ease your anger, then do it as much as you want—”

At that moment—

Thud!

Edwin was sent sprawling across the floor.

Richel had kicked him with all her strength.

And before he could recover, she kicked him again while he rolled on the ground.

“How dare you say something like that and then act generous about it?! If it’ll make me feel better, I should do whatever I want? You bastard!”

She screamed wildly.

All the emotions that had been building inside her throughout their entire marriage finally exploded at once.

“My lady!”

Only then did the butler come back to his senses and desperately try to restrain her.

“You mustn’t do this! Please, please calm down—”

But Richel had already half lost her reason.

She shoved the butler away with all her strength, and every time she managed to close the distance between herself and Edwin, she lashed out with another kick.

Edwin made no attempt to run or avoid her.

He simply curled his body tightly and endured the blows.

“Let go! That bastard said I could do whatever I wanted! So let go of me!”

The thin, frail butler could not stop Richel.

And on top of that, the past three years had left her far physically stronger than before.

There was real force behind every kick she delivered.

Finally giving up on controlling the situation himself, the butler rushed outside.

“Go bring Hans immediately! Tell him to come in right now!”

Hans was not someone who should normally be summoned to stop a physical fight like this, but there was no helping it.

They could not allow ordinary guards to witness this complete disaster.

After confirming that the servant had run off, the butler hurried back inside again to stop Richel.

By the time Hans arrived, the situation had already descended into complete chaos.

Richel shoved the butler aside and kicked Edwin again.

Sweat soaked her forehead, yet she still refused to stop lashing out.

‘Well, this is certainly a first. I never thought I’d live long enough to see a Count get beaten senseless.’

Hans clicked his tongue inwardly in disbelief.

“What are you doing?! Why haven’t you stopped them already?!”

The butler shouted frantically. Only then did Hans step directly in front of Richel.

In situations like this, all he had to do was block the one charging forward.

Unlike the butler, Hans did not budge even slightly.

Every step he took forward forced Richel one step back.

While stopping her, he tried to calm her down.

“My lady, if you keep kicking like this, you’ll injure your foot. Please calm yourself.”

Thanks to him, a considerable distance finally opened between Richel and Edwin.

The butler hurried over to Edwin’s side and supported him.

“Count, please sit— no, lie down on the sofa. I’ll call for a physician, so until then….”

Letting out faint groans, Edwin dragged himself over to the sofa.

He had been kicked so many times that both his clothes and his body were a complete mess.

Richel stood there breathing heavily as she watched him.

Every time Edwin winced in pain, the butler’s expression darkened further.

He looked beyond worried at this point—almost grief-stricken.

Then suddenly, Richel turned around and left the study.

Edwin called after her in alarm, but she had no desire to hear his voice anymore.

***

Richel headed toward the mansion attic.

After the harvest season ended, the villagers dried reeds and grass into hay, and part of it was stored in great piles inside the mansion attic.

Carrying only a bottle of liquor with her, she climbed onto the mound of hay.

After uncorking the bottle, Richel pushed open the window.

The cold night air poured in along with the dark sky.

Below stretched the shadowed land and forests swallowed by darkness.

Richel lifted the bottle and drank deeply.

Heat immediately rushed through her face, but the freezing air flowing in from outside cooled the intoxication almost as quickly.

Gradually, the hand lifting the bottle moved faster and faster.

“…It’s nice.”

The land spread before her eyes was land soaked with every hardship she had endured.

And it looked beautiful.

The dark scenery stretched endlessly in blurred black silhouettes.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about it, and yet it was beautiful all the same.

She drank again.

All sorts of emotions were swallowed together with the alcohol, only to drift away with the cold wind brushing across her cheeks.

“My lady, so you were here.”

“Ah, Hans.”

“You’re sitting on the hay again?”

“That’s the best place to look outside.”

A faint, disheveled smile appeared on her lips.

Hans shook his head before walking over and sitting beside her.

His eyes immediately fell to the liquor bottle in her hands.

Even though it was a long, large bottle, more than half of it was already gone.

It was obvious she had been drinking recklessly fast, so Hans lightly caught hold of the bottle.

“I think you drank too quickly. You should slow down for a bit.”

“How much could I possibly have drunk? Look, there’s still this much left. I’m not even that drunk.”

“If you drink that quickly, it hits you all at once. Eat something first. I brought snacks from the kitchen.”

From inside his coat, he pulled out several items wrapped carefully in cloth.

Inside were neatly sliced cheese, dried fruit, and a small fork.

Richel picked up the fork and stabbed a piece of cheese.

Meanwhile, Hans finally succeeded in taking the liquor bottle from her hands.

“You should eat more before drinking. When you drink, you need food like this or your stomach will suffer.”

“You drink alcohol with alcohol as your side dish, though.”

“You shouldn’t live by copying someone as insane as me.”

At his unexpectedly objective self-assessment, Richel let out a short laugh.

She stabbed another piece of dried fruit with the fork.

She had no intention of arguing with him.

There had already been several times she nearly suffered herself to death trying to keep up with his drinking.

She speared several pieces of cheese in succession and stuffed them all into her mouth at once.

It was hardly an elegant way to eat, her cheeks puffed out with food—but somehow, it tasted much better this way.

Over the past three years, Richel had learned all sorts of rough and uncivilized habits from the guards and from Hans.

Crude, comfortable ways of living.

She held out her hand toward him.

“Give me the bottle. I’ll only take one sip.”

“Just one sip.”

“Mhm.”

Hans handed over the bottle.

Richel pressed it to her lips and swallowed a large gulp of liquor.

Among those crude but convenient habits was drinking straight from the bottle.

“You remember what you told me back then, Hans?”

“What I told you?”

“You said cursing feels better than talking things out, and hitting someone feels even better than cursing.”

“Did I really say something like that?”

“You did. And honestly, you were right. Though kicking felt even better than punching.”

Her face slightly flushed as she spoke.

She could not tell whether the heat in her cheeks came from the alcohol or from embarrassment over behaving like a street thug—but beating Edwin senseless had definitely felt satisfying.

The resentment that constantly boiled inside her seemed lighter now.

Even her irritation had eased a little.

Hans burst into laughter.

“Of course. You did very well earlier. Crude and uncivilized behavior actually has quite a lot of advantages.”

“So you’re saying being crude and uncivilized isn’t all that bad?”

Richel laughed softly before stabbing more cheese and dried fruit with her fork.

Hans had said that if she didn’t want to ruin her stomach, she had to eat while drinking.

That was simply the kind of person Richel was.

Even while managing the estate, once she judged something to be the correct method, she followed it thoroughly.

That frustrating level of diligence was also a form of responsibility.

And Hans respected that deeply.

‘She’s far better than the Count. Irresponsible, yet overflowing with pointless pride….’

Only after finishing most of the food did Richel take another sip of alcohol.

Hans pushed the cloth holding the food a little closer toward her.

With reddened cheeks, Richel repeatedly stabbed at another cube of cheese.

“I don’t know why I feel like this. Why does it feel so….”

Suddenly, she blinked rapidly.

Without warning, her mood sank, and emotion surged painfully in her chest.

For some reason, she felt unbearably lonely.

Hans let out a sigh before speaking.

“You’re upset because the butler only worries about the Count. Even after all the suffering and effort you went through over the past three years… that d*mn butler really is something else….”

Hans clicked his tongue.

Because the reason Richel felt this miserable was the butler.

She no longer expected anything from Edwin but that was not true for the butler.

Over the past three years, Richel had relied on him heavily, almost as though he were her closest aide.

She buried her face into her knees for a moment before lifting her head again.

“But honestly… can you really blame the butler for acting that way? I’m the one who’ll eventually leave, while Edwin is the one staying here. So of course it makes sense….”

She pressed hard against the corners of her eyes with her fingers.

When she fought with Edwin, all she felt was anger.

But now, she only felt sad.

Hans gently patted her shoulder.

“When people spend enough time together, they naturally grow attached. Feeling lingering regret and disappointment is normal.”

“But it’s not like I’m suddenly not going to divorce him…. You know I already finished the divorce papers.”

“Of course I know. You said the moment the Count returned, you’d divorce him and leave.”

“Wow…. I really said that bluntly. I must’ve learned it from you.”

“I am rather gifted with words.”

At his shameless remark, Richel let out another small laugh.

After hesitating for quite a while, she finally spoke again.

“But seriously… Edwin’s become strange. I think he’s lost his mind. He says he’ll do better now and refuses to divorce me. Says he’ll do whatever I tell him to…. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

If he had truly been capable of changing like that, then he should have done it long ago.

Back when she had been suffering so badly she felt like dying.

Back when she had felt utterly miserable.

Richel pressed her palms hard against her eyes.

Tears soaked into her hands.

“I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m just angry… and it feels unfair…. Hngh… hic….”

Her crying only grew louder, fueled further by the alcohol.

Richel wiped roughly at her face with her hands.

Her heart felt unbearably heavy and sorrowful.

With a quiet sigh, Hans gently patted her back.

Only after a long while did her sobbing finally begin to calm.

“You should head downstairs now. If you catch a cold like this, the head maid will end up scolding only me.”

“It won’t just be you who gets told off. She nags me whenever straw gets stuck to my dresses, too. What am I supposed to do? There’s so much stuck to me again.”

She clumsily tried to pull the dried strands of hay off her clothes.

But her unsteady hands kept fumbling at the wrong spots.

Hans let out another deep sigh before hoisting Richel onto his back.

As though she had drunk far too much, her body quickly went limp against him.